This is the Technical Appendix to my story In Harm's Way here on these forums. I was not going to post it, but finally made the decision to go ahead and do so. Some folks actually enjoy crunching numbers, after all. Be warned, it is long and dry and covers technical details only not contained within the story itself. That said, I would appreciate anyones ideas, critiques, and suggestions on the technology within this universe. Hope you enjoy it!

And, before anyone starts in on me: yes, I know that plasma is not very well suited for weapon. However, that is merely what the weapons are named, they do not use plasma as we know and understand it.

MA

Appendix 1: The Imperial Fleet

The Imperial Fleet is the front-line of the Empire’s defense, standing between humanity and its many enemies. At the time of the temporal displacement, the Fleet included approximately 200 battleships, 900 cruisers, 1,400 destroyers, 400 assault transports, and 1,700 auxiliary, service, and support vessels in a myriad array of classes. Over twenty-five million men and women (women comprising around 6% of the total naval manpower at the time of the temporal displacement) wore the uniform of the Imperial Navy. In addition to the Fleet ships, the Imperial Navy was also responsible for organizing and manning system defense forces, on average consisting of one or two wings of fighters (seventy-two fighters, or three squadrons of twenty-four) and a handful of light corvettes and armed escorts to conduct customs inspections and assist merchantmen in distress. Core systems could easily boast of ten times these numbers, in addition to permanent bases of Battle and Cruiser Squadrons, while frontier colony worlds were often grateful for a single squadron of strike fighters. There were literally thousands of orbital and deep space stations crewed by personnel from the Imperial Fleet, including shipyards, transfer stations, and defense platforms. This was in addition to the large and powerful naval bureaucracy that made its home on Earth and Alpha Centauri.

Although outnumbered four-to-one by the Cruiser Squadrons, it was the Imperial Battle Squadrons that represented the might of the Empire of Humanity. A fairly typical example of an Imperial Battle Squadron is the 342nd. Formed a century after the conclusion of the Ordan-Kraal wars, the 342nd Battle Squadron saw action in numerous engagements against the Empire’s main rival (the Confederation), as well as several campaigns against numerous hostile and aggressive alien species that claim space along the frontier. Heavily decorated over its three centuries of service, the 342nd was reassigned to Home Fleet seventy years ago after a particularly gallant battle in which the human spacers defended a remote colony world against twenty-seven Jokar vessels. Earning the right to carry Caesar’s Banner in that engagement, the squadron destroyed seventeen ships and forced the remainder to withdraw, despite losing six ships of their own. Since then, the squadron remained stationed at Earth as part of Home Fleet until the appointment of Admiral Jason Chandler as its latest commander. With the current war with the Confederation (the seventh in just one hundred and fifty years) reaching its final stages, replacements were desperately needed at the front. And the 342nd was dispatched to Cyralis in the Mahan Sector—but the Temporal Transposition took the ships and their crews to a very different place indeed.

At the time of the Temporal Transposition, the 342nd consisted of four battleships (Leviathan, Renown, Reprisal, and Vanguard), two cruisers (Centurion and Crusader), and four escorting destroyers (Belisarius, Gustav Adolphus, Scipio Africanus, and Wallenstein). Two more destroyers (Charlemagne and Seydlitz) were not originally part of the 342nd, but joined the squadron after they too were drawn into the past. The age of the ships of the 342nd varies from seven years—for HIMS Crusader—to eighty-nine years in the case of HIMS Leviathan.

The 501st Transport Flotilla consisted of four ships (the Dresden class Cape Town, Moscow, Perth, and Sofia) assigned to lift the 501st Shock Legion. Their original destination was the Cyralis system, and the 342nd had been tasked to provide escort for the vulnerable transport ships. Other newcomers to the squadron were the Confederation Naval Auxiliaries (Lindsey Santiago and Preston Little; both vessels being Andrew Falgo class fast transports). Taken as prizes at Tammoran, these two merchantmen are unarmed and carry only a token amount of armor plating, but are equipped with military-grade PSK faster-than-light drives and sub-light engines that would not be out of place on an Imperial destroyer.

Imperial Battle Squadrons are intended for a variety of roles; including, but not limited to, power projection, transportation of diplomatic envoys, ensuring the safety of interstellar Imperial space, and assault against hostile worlds. As such, their commanders were often hand-picked by Caesar and the Imperial Warlord in order to insure both their loyalty and their competence. The lack of either in a Battle Squadron leader could result in calamity; from the loss of ten ships with all hands to an attempted coup from a man able to direct enough firepower to depopulate entire systems. As such, the selection of Battle Squadron COs owed as much to politics as to ability. Jason Chandler, promoted to Admiral and selected for command of the 342nd, was an excellent example of this. While he was skilled in his naval duties, his marriage to the daughter of Caesar played a major role in his selection to command the squadron.

In addition to their purely naval duties, Battle Squadron commanders were also expected to exert the Caesar’s will upon colony worlds far from Core. Equivalent in rank to Imperial Governor-Generals, BatRon (a commonly used abbreviation for Battle Squadron) Admirals were expected and required to ensure that all Imperial laws were upheld in the hinterlands of the Empire. More than one Governor-General was arrested and charged with malfeasance by an Admiral; several of the accused were even executed by these naval officers for failure in their assigned duties to Caesar and the public trust. BatRon Admirals furthermore had the authority of Caesar to appoint new Governors (frequently chosen from officers on their own staffs) to replace such a criminal. Such appointments had to be confirmed by the bureaucracy on Terra, but the majority of them were ratified without comment.

Few men would ever command more firepower than a BatRon CO; for many of those so honored such an appointment would be the pinnacle of their careers.

Appendix 2: Imperial Fleet Vessels

Literally hundreds of classes of ships form the Imperial Fleet, but this document will concentrate only on those that were part of the 342nd Battle Squadron and 501st Transport Flotilla.

Notes on the entries below:

1. Standard tonnage includes all parasite craft, full loads of fuel, munitions, and provisions; full load adds the maximum capacity of all cargo holds (typically an Imperial warship carries 15-20% of the maximum capacity in the form of spare parts and emergency relief supplies—only rarely are these ships forced to utilize their full capacity, with the notable exception of assault transports and dedicated naval stores ships).

2. Hanger decks are normally located on the dorsal surface of the warship, inboard of the secondary battery (see number 6 below). With the exception of the main sensor tower, these facilities are often the highest point on a ship’s hull. The recovery deck is approached from the stern of the ship, and is open to the vacuum of space during recovery operations. Once all craft are recovered, hatches seal the deck and the area is repressurized; elevators are then used to transport the small craft down one deck to the main hanger bay, where they are stored. Imperial ships contain between six and twenty-four launch tubes divided among the port and starboard sides, each of which is capable of launching a single fighter—shuttles are normally launched from the main recovery deck. Typically, a warship retains six fighters on Alert-5 status (ready for launch within five minutes of sounding an alert, although vessels expecting combat tend to have already spotted a full load of fighters within the launch bays, reducing the time to less than 30 seconds from alert to launch. It normally takes between five and ten minutes to spot subsequent fighters after those first craft have been launched (although some highly trained and motivated deck gangs have reportedly reduced this to as low as three minutes).

3. Plasma cannons use a physical cartridge (or shell), which is loaded within the weapon itself. The shell contains a mixture of various chemicals and high-energy isotopes which ignite upon being subjected to massive amounts of electrical energy; the casing is vaporized upon ignition. Light plasma bolts (35mm-50mm) have an explosive yield of between one hundred twenty-five kilograms and three hundred fifty kilograms of conventional high explosive and are mounted extensively on warships as secondaries, an intermediate dual-purpose battery that has a limited range, but can be used against fighters, missiles, shuttles, and capital ships alike. True capital scale plasma cannons fire plasma bolts ranging in caliber from 8cm on the smallest armed escorts, corvettes, frigates, and destroyers to the massive 42cm, 45cm, and 48cm main guns found aboard heavy dreadnoughts. These weapons have yields measuring in dozens of kilotons—hundreds of kilotons for the heavier bolts (the largest plasma cannon ever deployed on active duty by the Imperial Fleet are the 48cm main guns of the Victory class battleships, with a yield of 275 kilotons—in contrast, the 45s of the Washingtons and Levithans are rated at 250 kilotons, while the 26s found aboard Gladiator class cruisers have a yield of just 120-kt and the 16s of the Alexander class Destroyers carry a rate of only 44-kt.). Plasma guns use gravity accelerators to fire the round (case and all), igniting the shell as it leaves the gun tube—a powerful magnetic shield generator encapsulates the plasma bolt as it exits the barrel, allowing the bolt to retain its energy for as long as two and a quarter seconds, depending on the power of the weapon itself (heavier weapons can generate stronger magnetic bottles that last for longer durations, hence they have more range, with the massive 48cms having a range of 32,500 kilometers). The magnetic shield generator matches frequencies with the ships shields (see number 8 below) so that the bolt may safely exit the shield bubble. Plasma cannons also feature a cooling system that flushes the barrel with liquid nitrogen after each shot—firing a weapon before it has cooled sufficiently risks detonation of the shell within the chamber itself (and consequently the utter destruction of the ship which suffers this catastrophe). This makes plasma cannons relatively slow firing, although smaller caliber guns are able to be cooled faster, giving lighter weapons a higher rate of fire (for example, a 35mm plasma cannon can fire one round every four seconds, while a 48cm plasma cannon is limited to one shot every one hundred and eighty seconds). Plasma bolts travel at almost 5% of light speed, meaning it takes pure luck for any point-defense system to successfully detonate a bolt before impact. While plasma cannons can be fired within an atmosphere, the density of that blanket of air greatly reduces range (even the heaviest plasma cannons seldom exceed a thousand kilometers within an atmosphere) and may cause premature detonation of the plasma bolt before impact, depending upon the exact atmospheric conditions. Light or medium caliber plasma cannons fired from orbit through a standard atmosphere (0.8 to 1.2 Earth norm) cannot reach the surface, although heavy plasma guns (23cm or larger) can. Cloud cover and precipitation can cause the magnetic containment bubble to rupture prematurely as the bolt passes through the atmospheric phenomena—making orbital bombardment with plasma cannons very much a hit or miss proposition except at the shortest ranges. Due to their ability to operate within an atmosphere, destroyers are most often the ships called upon to deliver pin-point plasma bombardment at ranges as short as 25 kilometers.

4. Mass driver cannons are an older technology, but for rapid-fire point defense there are few more effective weapon systems. Even a single shell from a mass-driver can prematurely detonate a plasma bolt (although such a hit is more a matter of luck and probability than gunnery skill), and against missiles and torpedoes they are equally devastating. While a fighter or shuttle may not be destroyed by a hit from a single round, the quad- and twin-mount mass drivers used in point-defense emplacements can often deliver dozens of hits almost simultaneously, causing heavy damage if not complete destruction.

5. For most Imperial ships, the main battery is emplaced in twin ball turrets along the flanks and/or bow of the vessel. This configuration allows the main battery to elevate and depress up to slightly more than 110-degrees positive and negative, as well as traverse as much as 120-degrees in the horizontal plane.

6. The secondary battery is situated above and below the mains, typically as much as 20 meters farther inboard from the perimeter of the ship. These guns also use twin ball turrets, but their position on the hull surface and the general shape of the hull itself does not afford them the same wide arcs of fire as the main battery (typically elevation of 120- to 150-degrees and depression of 10-degrees, with a traverse of 90- to 120-degrees for dorsal mounts, the elevation and depression are reversed for ventral mounts).

7. The point defense battery is distributed across the ship’s hull as evenly as possible to obtain the maximum defensive fire versus a threat from any vector.

8. Torpedo batteries consist of inclined launch cells built into the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the ship’s hull, positioned to fire forward. A typical Imperial warship carries a battery of torpedo cells consisting of 48 dorsal launchers and 48 ventral launchers. A standard torpedo spread is normally a dozen torpedoes launched simultaneously from both the dorsal and ventral cells (for a total of 24 torps per salvo). This gives Imperial ships a nominal load of four salvoes before depleting their onboard munitions. However, the vessel launching torpedoes can flush any number of their remaining loaded torpedo cells in single massive barrage, typically to ensure saturation of a targets defensive fire. Alternatively, torpedoes can be launched individually, which is normally the case when using these munitions for orbital bombardment. Residual radiation and fallout from the use of torpedoes against surface targets is quite high, making it uncommon for such weapons to be used against populated worlds. Torpedo cells are one-shot weapons, once their torpedo has been launched, reloading operations must be handled by either a shipyard or a dedicated ammunition ship.

9. The Nike is the most common torpedo in imperial service. This weapon measures twenty-five meters in length and has a diameter of three meters. It carries a 220-kiloton gravitic fusion warhead that is designed to detonate a fraction of a second before impact on an active shield. The warhead can also be fused for detonation at a specific programmed altitude, or upon direct impact with a solid object, which allows for the use of torpedoes against targets on a planetary surface.

10. Torpedoes move incredibly fast over the ranges that they can cover, but every second spent in flight after launch gives enemy point-defense more time to lock up the incoming projectiles and shoot them down prior to reaching attack range. This is complicated by the fact that although torpedoes have the bulk and emissions signatures of a light fighter interceptor, they do not carry shields or armor; thus even a single hit will often destroy the torpedo, or damage it so severely that the warhead will not detonate on impact. They do carry electronic warfare equipment, however, and so locking onto a torpedo—especially at close ranges with flight times of only a handful of seconds—is difficult to do. But, once again, the longer the flight time, the most likely it is that the target’s fire control and tracking systems will achieve a lock and destroy the weapon before impact.

11. Many Imperial warships are also equipped with orbital bombardment tubes along their ventral surfaces. Akin to mass drivers, these weapons accelerate a solid slug of nickel-iron or tungsten to high velocities—although they remain too slow to be used in ship-to-ship combat, except at point-blank ranges. These projectiles (also known in the naval service as ‘crowbars’) mass between ten and fifty metric tons each and are normally used to conduct orbital bombardment against entrenched defenders on a planetary surface. Given the difficulty in firing plasma bolts from orbit through a planetary atmosphere to the surface, these weapons are often the best means of precisely removing fortified positions; they are also ‘clean’ kinetic energy weapons with no residual radiation effects.

12. The main armor belt is concentrated along the flanks and bow, with the dorsal surfaces, ventral surfaces, and stern having roughly half to two-thirds the armor protection of the main belt. Additional internal plating surrounds all plasma magazines, small craft magazines, and torpedo launchers, as well as vital areas such as the CIC, bridge, flag bridge, fuel storage tanks, and engineering spaces. Modern Imperial armor is known as Hawkins-Connors Alloy and is comprised of a molecularly-aligned carbon-based ceramic compound that has the hardness of diamond, but just one-sixteenth the mass of a similar volume of steel-alloy armor plating. The (relatively) low density and mass allows Imperial designers to provide a thickness of protection heretofore unheard of—absorbing both kinetic and energy based attacks, as well as blocking alpha-, beta-, and gamma- emissions of radioactive isotopes and nuclear/plasma detonations. When struck, the hardness of the armor helps to resist kinetic penetration, while the thickness absorbs the ambient energy, sacrificing layer after layer to ablate the effects of the attack. Kinetic weapons such as point defense or fighter-based mass-drivers crater the surface of the armor, but generally cannot penetrate more than 5-30cm, depending upon the caliber of the weapon (although surface-based heavy mass drivers in the 135mm+ range used in the anti-spacecraft role cause between four and ten times this amount of damage, but have low rates of fire and are only effective when used en masse against targets very close to the planet). Generally speaking, the armor can withstand surface detonations of approximately 25-kilotons per meter of thickness, although such an attack will dramatically thin the armor by vaporizing the outer, central, and even inner layers. Shock damage to the interior of the vessel is liable to be quite high, even if the detonation did not manage to penetrate the armored hull. Imperial warships tend to be double hulled, with two layers of armor separated by a two-or-three meter thick vacuum filled void. Although this practice consumes vital internal volume, it does provide a low-cost and low-mass means of enhancing overall protection versus shock transference. Destroyers tend to have 3-5 meters of armor in their main belt, cruisers 7-12, and battleships 16 or more—with some of the heaviest and best protected dreadnoughts carrying as much as 30-meters of armor protection over their vital areas. The very nature and composition of this armor interferes with all frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum, meaning the thicker the armor plating, the less effective sensor systems and EM based communications systems become. This has lead to the Imperial practice of incorporating a lightly armored sensor tower on all of their warships, but lighter (and less armored) vessels still retain a sizable advantage in both sensor reach and resolution. Tachyon-based short-range and interstellar communications are not affected by armor.

13. Capital warship grade shields project a ‘bubble’ around the vessel mounting them. This bubble is normally invisible to the naked eye, but visibly flares when struck by objects exceeding 100 grams in mass or by high levels of radiated energy. These shields tend to vaporize less massive objects and absorb radiated energy. They can even absorb the energy from a multi-hundred kiloton nuclear/plasma detonation at distances of 100-meters or more from the surface of the shield The gravity stresses in a shield tend to shred objects which attempt to pass through them—unless those objects are specifically tuned to the shields frequency (readers should take note: there are potentially thousands of different shield frequencies, and Imperial vessels tend to shift frequency in a random pattern controlled by the ship’s primary computer network); fighters, small craft, and torpedoes launched from a shielded vessel can penetrate the shields without incident, as well as plasma bolts and mass-driver bursts from the main, secondary, and point-defense batteries (the weapons are tuned to the current frequency when fired). Hostile torpedoes (and heavy anti-ship fighter missiles) are normally programmed to detonate just before contact with the shield surface. However, shields do have their limits—massive amounts of direct energy striking the same general location can overload the shields and create a ‘hole’ through which subsequent attacks can pass unhindered. Furthermore, very high levels of ambient energy (such as being in close proximity to a star) can weaken shields considerably, making them more susceptible to suffering localized overloads. A direct shield hit by a high yield nuclear/plasma detonation can also—in many cases—cause a feedback in the shield generators themselves, possibly knocking one or more generators off-line and leaving portions of the ship vulnerable to further attacks. Shield strength is directly related to the power a vessel is able to feed the generators; hence larger vessels tend to have stronger shields (much stronger in many cases) than lighter ones (for example, a Leviathan class battleship has shields strong enough to remain intact even with a direct contact detonation in the 200+ kiloton range, while the shields aboard an Alexander class destroyer will collapse from a single hit with one-quarter that yield). Vessels designed to operate within a planetary atmosphere and land on a planetary surface uses their shields to absorb the heat of reentry operations, protecting weapon turrets and other vital surface hull fixtures from damage—however, such vessels are extremely vulnerable to attack during this procedure, as most of their available shield strength is dedicated to protecting the ship’s hull from reentry.

14. Sub-light thrust is given in three values—sustained, flank, and emergency full. Vessels can accelerate or decelerate at their sustained thrust while retaining enough power for shields and weapons. Flank speed requires that power be diverted from the main and secondary batteries, although the shields remain functional. Emergency thrust can only be achieved by diverting power from the main battery, secondary battery, and shields—the point-defense battery and torpedo battery still retain power even at the maximum rate of acceleration possible.

15. Inertial compensators negate the effects of prolonged acceleration aboard capital warships, while gravity plates in the decks provide artificial gravity throughout the vessel.

16. FTL travel is given in light-years per hour; the maximum possible duration of a single FTL flight is 20 hours, 34 minutes, and 48 seconds—or slightly less than 68 light-years for a PSK drive with a rating of 3.3, just over 45 light-years for a drive rated at 2.2. However, the vessels of the Imperial Fleet are hard-wired for FTL transits of no longer than 12 continous hours (~40 light-years and ~26 light-years, respectively). PSK drives must spend two seconds at sub-light speeds for every second spent traveling FTL in order to ‘reset’ the maximum duration. Multiple FTL transits without a significant period between to rest the drives cause the system to fail at 20 hours, 34 minutes, and 49 seconds, disabling the ship in question.

17. Imperial vessels tend to mount a ‘sensor tower’ on their dorsal hull that extends as much as 100% above the listed ship height. This tower is very lightly armored (typically about 10% of the thickness of the main armor belt) and includes short-, medium-, and long-range sensors, tracking and targeting systems, and non-FTL communications systems. Except for a few access hatches and pressurized compartments used for maintenance, the majority of the internal volume of the sensor tower is normally kept in a hard vacuum. Due to the fragile nature of this lightly armored structure, the sensor tower is not manned during action, but instead relies upon automated systems directed by crewmen within the main armored hull. Destroying a sensor tower can reduce a ship’s sensor reach, resolution, and target tracking capability by as much as 50% on heavier vessels (approximately 20% on destroyers). Since sensor towers are protected by the ship’s shields, and shield penetrations tend to be localized around the point of heaviest damage, most warship tactical crews do not try to deliberate target this location. Furthermore, even if completely destroyed, the loss of the sensor tower does not cause significant damage to the main body of the ship itself—other than the loss of sensor capability. However, Murphy being what and who he is, damage to the sensor tower is distressingly commonplace. Fighters—on the other hand—try to damage the sensor tower as rapidly as possible, since doing so reduces the effectiveness of a warships point defense fire against them.

18. All Imperial vessels are equipped with at least a pair, sometimes as many as six, tractor/pressor generators. These units project a short-range beam of gravity that allows the ship to tow damaged vessels, pin hostile vessels in place, or move asteroids and meteors of fairly small scale.

19. All Imperial vessels are equipped with emergency escape boats able to embark at least 80% of the ship’s maximum crew and passenger complement. These escape boats are built into the hull, are covered by blow-off armored panels, and are capable of operating for up to seventy-two hours before their power supplies are depleted. Each is able to safely deorbit and conduct a non-powered reentry, using a combination of gravity drives and parachutes to soft-land on a planetary surface. The escape boats contain emergency supplies and provisions to last twenty personnel for up to two weeks. Escape boats are short-ranged craft, with only a limited ability to accelerate or decelerate, and are designed to be used just one time. Once the boats have been launched, it requires a shipyard or fleet tender to install new ones and the armor panels that cover them during normal operations.

Andrew Falgo class Auxiliary Naval Transport
Projected Cost of Acquisition: 1 billion Imperial Talents (~500 billion US Dollars)
Dimensions:

Overall Length: 480 meters
Height: 60 meters
Maximum Beam: 84 meters

Mass: 140,000 metric tons (standard); 240,000 metric tons (full load)
Crew Complement: 11 officers, (including warrant officers), 117 enlisted & NCO
Marine Complement: None

Parasite Complement: 8 officers (including warrant officers), 58 enlisted & NCO
4 x Hercules Heavy Shuttles (crew of 5)
2 x Hermes Light Shuttles (crew of 3)

Total Crew Complement: 19 officers (including warrant officers); 175 enlisted & NCO
Passenger Accommodations: 806
Total Life Support, Food, and Water: 1,000 persons for 5 years

Armament: None
Torpedo Battery: None
Orbital Bombardment Tubes: None
Drone Launchers: None

Main Armor Belt: 1m Hawkins-Connors Composite Alloy VIII/e
Shield Generators: Classified

Maximum Sub-Light Thrust (empty): 4-g’s sustained, 8-g’s flank; 12-g’s emergency
Maximum Sub-Light Thrust (full load): 3-g’s sustained, 6-g’s flank; 9-g’s emergency
Maximum FTL Velocity: 3.3 light-years per hour

Power Generators:
4 x General Electric FTPG-88 300 Megawatt Fusion Power Reactors
Fuel Supply: 10,000 tons frozen lithium hydride
Operating Duration: 5 years at maximum power output
Cargo Storage Space: 100,000 metric tons [8 bays]

Notes: Both Lindsey Santiago and Preston Little were former Confederation Naval Auxiliaries of the Andrew Falgo class that had been seized as prizes by the 342nd in the Tammoran system. After the temporal displacement, these fast freighters would—alongside the more massive and slower Dresden class assault transports—support the colonization effort of the New Empire and provide a template for future construction of merchant vessels. Neither of these ships was armed. Furthermore, both carried only a token amount of armor protection, but the Confederation had provided these vessels with military grade FTL and sub-light drive systems, making them among the fastest cargo and personnel carriers in known space. Combined with their small crews, this allowed the designers to provide enough space for more 800 passenger accommodations and cargo holds with the capacity for 100,000 metric tons of cargo.

Alexander class Destroyer
Projected Cost of Acquisition: 4 billion Imperial Talents (~2 trillion US Dollars)

Dimensions:
Overall Length: 544 meters
Height: 62 meters
Maximum Beam: 87 meters

Mass: 215,000 metric tons (standard); 240,000 metric tons (full load)
Crew Complement: 141 officers, (including warrant officers), 1,262 enlisted & NCO
Marine Complement: 6 officers, 146 enlisted & NCO

Parasite Complement: 68 officers (including warrant officers), 118 enlisted & NCO
24 x Banshee Fighter Interceptors (crew of 1)
2 x Intruder Assault Shuttle (crew of 5)
2 x Hercules Heavy Shuttles (crew of 5)
2 x Hermes Light Shuttles (crew of 3)

Total Crew Complement: 215 officers (inc. warrant officers); 1,526 enlisted & NCO
Passenger Accommodations: 259
Total Life Support, Food, and Water: 2,000 persons for 5 years

Main Armament:
13 x twin 16cm Plasma Cannons [13,000 rounds]; max effective range 7,500km
14 x twin 5cm Plasma Cannons [28,000 rounds]; max effective range 1,250km
26 x quad 3.5cm Mass-Driver Cannons [3.7 million rounds]; m.e.r. 125km

Torpedo Battery:

Multi-launch Torpedo Cell System w/96 Nike Gravitic Fusion Torpedoes
Flight Time at Various Ranges:
400 kilometers: 5 seconds
700 kilometers: 10 seconds
1,100 kilometers: 15 seconds
1,500 kilometers: 20 seconds
1,900 kilometers: 25 seconds
2,400 kilometers: 30 seconds
3,600 kilometers: 45 seconds
4,900 kilometers: 60 seconds
7,500 kilometers: 90 seconds
Maximum Endurance: 90 seconds
Warhead: 220-kiloton gravitic fusion

Orbital Bombardment Tubes: None
Drone Launchers: 24 Launch Cells for CRT-7 series Remote Sensor/Surveillance Drones

Main Armor Belt: 4m Hawkins-Connors Composite Alloy VIII/e
Shield Generators: Classified

Maximum Sub-Light Thrust: 4-g’s sustained, 8-g’s flank; 12-g’s emergency
Maximum FTL Velocity: 3.3 light-years per hour

Power Generators:
8 x General Electric FTPG-88 300 Megawatt Fusion Power Reactors
Fuel Supply: 20,000 tons frozen lithium hydride
Operating Duration: 5 years at maximum power output
Cargo Storage Space: 25,000 metric tons [2 bays]

Notes: Half again as large a Nimitz class aircraft carrier (and more than twice as massive), the six Alexander class destroyers of the 342nd Battle Squadron are the smallest Imperial Fleet warships to have made the time jump back into the present. Were it not for the presence of the Gladiator class cruisers and Leviathan class battleships in the 342nd, most of the trained military personnel on Earth would have regarded these vessels as actual battleships, rather than destroyers. Each Alexander carries eighteen plasma guns that are roughly the same dimensions and tonnage as the 16” cannons aboard Iowa class battleships, are protected by up to four meters of armor far more effective than any yet to be invented on Earth, and armed with nearly one hundred super-ICBMs that contemporary ground based anti-missile systems have little chance of successfully intercepting. Not to mention the secondary battery of 5cm plasma guns or the hundred-odd 35mm point defense guns—point defense guns with a range greater than the American Harpoon anti-ship missile! Plus, the Alexander carries six shuttlecraft, twenty-four fighter interceptors, one hundred fifty-two Marines (a full Marine Rifle Company), and can not only operate within a planetary atmosphere, but is capable of safely landing on its surface.
For all of that vast capability, however, these ships are just destroyers—escort and patrol vessels—to Imperial sensibilities. They are the most maneuverable and fastest accelerating ships of the 342nd, and also possess sensor systems with the longest reach and resolution. Intended to provide close escort to the actual capital ships of the Fleet, the Alexanders also spent an inordinate amount of time in that other reality conducting routine patrols of Imperial space and policing the space-lanes between settled worlds. Nearly as large as--and more powerful than—the Boxer class cruisers with which the Empire fought the Ordan-Kraal to a standstill, it is these small ships that Her Imperial Majesty and her advisors plan to construct in large numbers to defend the Earth of this time. Although there are also plans for several new cruisers and a handful of battleships, those massive and horrendously expensive ships will require decades of construction time, as well as incredible amounts of natural resources. The Alexanders can be constructed fairly swiftly (projected at six years per building slip, once the orbital shipyards are completed) and at a cost that will not—hopefully—bankrupt the planet.

Dresden class Assault Troop Transport
Projected Cost of Acquisition: 2 billion Imperial Talents (~1 trillion US Dollars)

Dimensions:

Overall Length: 674 meters
Height: 77 meters
Maximum Beam: 108 meters

Mass: 145,000 metric tons (standard); 305,000 metric tons (full load)
Crew Complement: 105 officers, (including warrant officers), 938 enlisted & NCO
Marine Complement: None

Parasite Complement: 56 officers (including warrant officers), 92 enlisted & NCO
12 x Typhoon Ground Attack Fighters (crew of 2)
4 x Hercules Heavy Shuttles (crew of 5)
2 x Hermes Light Shuttles (crew of 3)

Total Crew Complement: 161 officers (inc. warrant officers); 1,030 enlisted & NCO
Passenger Accommodations: 5,809
Total Life Support, Food, and Water: 7,000 persons for 5 years

Armament:
10 x twin 5cm Plasma Cannons [10,000 rounds]; max effective range 1,250km
24 x quad 3.5cm Mass-Driver Cannons [2 million rounds]; m.e.r. 125km

Torpedo Battery: None
Orbital Bombardment Tubes: None
Drone Launchers: None

Main Armor Belt: 2m Hawkins-Connors Composite Alloy VIII/e
Shield Generators: Classified

Maximum Sub-Light Thrust: 2-g’s sustained, 4-g’s flank; 6-g’s emergency
Maximum FTL Velocity: 2.2 light-years per hour

Power Generators: 4 x General Electric FTPG-88 300 Megawatt Fusion Power Reactors
Fuel Supply: 10,000 tons frozen lithium hydride
Operating Duration: 5 years at maximum power output
Cargo Storage Space: 160,000 metric tons [8 bays]

Notes: The Dresden class Assault Transports are among the largest vessels ever constructed that can operate within a planetary atmosphere and land on its surface. The size of these ships was dictated by amount of cargo and troops that they routinely carry—one-quarter of the entire strength of an Imperial Shock Legion. Operating in squadrons of four, these ships can transport the Legion across interstellar space and are equipped to land in hot drop-zones in order to unload their lethal cargo of tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery, and infantry troopers. Despite their size, these ships are not warships—indeed, they carry lighter armor, weaker shields, and less weaponry than a De Grasse class destroyer (the predecessor to the Alexanders). They are also slow vessels, using less expensive civilian-grade PSK faster-than-light drives and having far less capable sub-light engines that generate lower amount of thrust with which to accelerate. The Dresdens are instead optimized for their designed role to deliver intact a Shock Legion into harm’s way. Each of these transports can carry up to 5,809 soldiers, tankers, and support personnel, plus enough cargo space for their vehicles, a nano-forge, and more than 13,000 metric tons of supplies. Their armaments, fire control systems, and tracking systems are optimized for self-defense, not offensive action, and they are lightly armored—enough at least to sustain direct hits from ground fire during landing operations without suffering serious damage.
After the arrival of the 342nd Battle Squadron and the 501st Transport Flotilla in the Earth of the present day, these ships have been relegated to hauling cargo and personnel on runs between the new lunar bases, Earth, and the shipyards under construction at Titan. It is expected, however, that these ships will play an important role in the colonization efforts at Alpha Centauri, Epsilon Eridani, 61 Cygnii, Epsilon Indi, and Tau Ceti, all of which are within just a few hour’s flight time of Earth. As the Imperial Fleet begins its planning for the coming war with the Ordan-Kraal, additional Dresdens are likely to be constructed to carry new formed Legions into the teeth of the enemy. None are currently under construction, however.

Gladiator class Cruiser
Projected Cost of Acquisition: 18 billion Imperial Talents (~9 trillion US Dollars)

Dimensions:

Overall Length: 1,196 meters
Height: 136 meters
Maximum Beam: 192 meters

Mass: 1,720,000 metric tons (standard); 1,790,000 metric tons (full load)
Crew Complement: 283 officers, (including warrant officers), 2,577 enlisted & NCO
Marine Complement: 15 officers, 305 enlisted & NCO

Parasite Complement: 208 officers (including warrant officers), 436 enlisted & NCO
24 x Banshee Fighter Interceptors (crew of 1)
24 x Warhawk Strike Fighters (crew of 2)
4 x Intruder Assault Shuttle (crew of 5)
4 x Hercules Heavy Shuttles (crew of 5)
4 x Hermes Light Shuttles (crew of 3)

Total Crew Complement: 506 officers (inc. warrant officers); 3,318 enlisted & NCO
Passenger Accommodations: 376
Total Life Support, Food, and Water: 4,200 persons for 5 years

Main Armament:
15 x twin 26cm Plasma Cannons [15,000 rounds]; max effective range 15,000km
18 x twin 5cm Plasma Cannons [36,000 rounds]; max effective range 1,250km
32 x quad 3.5cm Mass-Driver Cannons [4.5 million rounds]; m.e.r. 125km

Torpedo Battery:

Multi-launch Torpedo Cell System w/96 Nike Gravitic Fusion Torpedoes
Flight Time at Various Ranges:
400 kilometers: 5 seconds
700 kilometers: 10 seconds
1,100 kilometers: 15 seconds
1,500 kilometers: 20 seconds
1,900 kilometers: 25 seconds
2,400 kilometers: 30 seconds
3,600 kilometers: 45 seconds
4,900 kilometers: 60 seconds
7,500 kilometers: 90 seconds
Maximum Endurance: 90 seconds
Warhead: 220-kiloton gravitic fusion

Orbital Bombardment Tubes: 4 x Mk XVIII 150cm Gravitic Accelerator Bombards [600 rounds]
Drone Launchers: 24 Launch Cells for CRT-7 series Remote Sensor/Surveillance Drones

Main Armor Belt: 10m Hawkins-Connors Composite Alloy VIII/e
Shield Generators: Classified

Maximum Sub-Light Thrust: 3-g’s sustained, 6-g’s flank; 9-g’s emergency
Maximum FTL Velocity: 3.3 light-years per hour

Power Generators: 16 x General Electric FTPG-88 300 Megawatt Fusion Power Reactors
Fuel Supply: 40,000 tons frozen lithium hydride
Operating Duration: 5 years at maximum power output
Cargo Storage Space: 50,000 metric tons [4 bays]

Notes: Centurion and Crusader are the only two examples of Imperial Cruisers currently in existence in the current time. However, during the future reality, cruisers were perhaps the most common type of Imperial warships—with only destroyers outnumbering them on active duty. Although unable to survive in combat against battleships or heavily fortified worlds, cruisers carry enough firepower to handle anything short of those two types of opponents. They are faster than battleships, have longer-ranged and more capable sensor arrays (although not quite as capable of those of destroyers), and cost a mere fraction of the expense involved in outfitting a true ship-of-the-line. And while they do not carry as much firepower as a battleship, any cruiser can lay waste to an entire world with ease. Easily four times as many cruiser squadrons existed in the Future Empire as did battle squadrons, and every formation included at least a pair of Leopards, Orions, or Gladiators—the three cruiser classes on active duty at the time of the temporal displacement. Further cruisers were dispatched in individual divisions of two ships, conducting patrols and showing the flag. Older, smaller cruisers (the Boxer, Blake, and Superb classes) were armed with 20cm main batteries and have mostly been removed from service due to their age, light construction, and inability to house fighter complements. Likewise, the Shokaku, Lexington, and Ark Royal class fighter carriers were retired two centuries ago when advancements in technology allowed for the construction of fighters small enough to be deployed aboard destroyers, cruisers, and battleships without significant loss of firepower or armor protection.
In the present day, the Imperial Fleet has plans to construct at least a half-dozen new Gladiators at the Titan Yards (once they become fully operational). The first ship has not yet been laid down, however, and engineers project that it will take at least ten years to build each ship. Although Her Imperial Majesty (and her consort, the Imperial Warlord) want to rebuild the cruisers that so valiantly protected her father’s realm, they recognize that the task at hand is gain as many ships as possible in the least amount of time. And since the Alexander class destroyer is nearly as large as the old Boxers that defeated the Ordan-Kraal the first time around, is faster than the Boxer, and carries better armor, armament, and shielding than those ancient ships, they have chosen to concentrate the available yard space—and the Imperial budget—on the smaller ships for the time being.

Leviathan class Battleship
Projected Cost of Acquisition: 117 billion Imperial Talents (~58.5 trillion US Dollars)

Dimensions:

Overall Length: 2,870 meters
Height: 326 meters
Maximum Beam: 462 meters

Mass: 13,800,000 metric tons (standard); 13,900,000 metric tons (full load)
Crew Complement: 494 officers (including warrant officers), 4,446 enlisted & NCO
Marine Complement: 30 officers, 610 enlisted & NCO

Parasite Complement: 342 officers (including warrant officers), 750 enlisted & NCO
24 x Banshee Fighter Interceptors (crew of 1)
24 x Warhawk Strike Fighters (crew of 2)
24 x Havoc Strike Bombers (crew of 3)
8 x Intruder Assault Shuttle (crew of 5)
4 x Hercules Heavy Shuttles (crew of 5)
4 x Hermes Light Shuttles (crew of 3)
2 x Hawkeye Aerospace Early Warning Shuttles (crew of 18)

Total Crew Complement: 866 officers (inc. warrant officers); 5,806 enlisted & NCO
Passenger Accommodations: 1,328
Total Life Support, Food, and Water: 8,000 persons for 5 years

Main Armament:
18 x twin 45cm Plasma Cannons [90,000 rounds]; max effective range 30,000km
24 x twin 5cm Plasma Cannons [480,000 rounds]; max effective range 1,250km
44 x quad 3.5cm Mass-Driver Cannons [31 million rounds]; m.e.r. 125km

Torpedo Battery:

Multi-launch Torpedo Cell System w/96 Nike Gravitic Fusion Torpedoes
Flight Time at Various Ranges:
400 kilometers: 5 seconds
700 kilometers: 10 seconds
1,100 kilometers: 15 seconds
1,500 kilometers: 20 seconds
1,900 kilometers: 25 seconds
2,400 kilometers: 30 seconds
3,600 kilometers: 45 seconds
4,900 kilometers: 60 seconds
7,500 kilometers: 90 seconds
Maximum Endurance: 90 seconds
Warhead: 220-kiloton gravitic fusion

Orbital Bombardment Tubes: 8 x Mk XVIII 150cm Gravitic Accelerator Bombards [6,000 rounds]
Drone Launchers: 24 Launch Cells for CRT-7 series Remote Sensor/Surveillance Drones

Main Armor Belt: 26m Hawkins-Connors Composite Alloy VIII/e
Shield Generators: Classified

Maximum Sub-Light Thrust: 2-g’s sustained, 4-g’s flank; 6-g’s emergency
Maximum FTL Velocity: 3.3 light-years per hour

Power Generators: 32 x General Electric FTPG-88 300 Megawatt Fusion Power Reactors
Fuel Supply: 80,000 tons frozen lithium hydride
Operating Duration: 5 years at maximum power output
Cargo Storage Space: 100,000 metric tons [4 bays]

Notes: The mailed fist of the Imperial Fleet is epitomized by the 13.8 megaton Leviathan class. Four of these mighty ships formed the heart and soul of the 342nd when the squadron was sent back in time to the present day. Along with the older and less massive Washington class, it was these ships that made up the majority of the modern Imperial Fleets battle-line. The newest dreadnoughts—the recently commissioned Victory class—might carry a heavier main battery, but only a handful of those technologically advanced ships had so far reached the Fleet by the time of the temporal displacement. Complete schematics for the Victory class were not included in the data-cores of the central computers of the 342nd, so the Leviathans remain the premier class of dreadnought in this New Empire.

The Imperial Battleline was born in the midst of the Ordan-Kraal Wars, with the Warrior class. Upon invading Ordan-Kraal space, Caesar Marcus discovered that the Boxer class cruisers—although impressive ships in their own right for that era—were no match for the fixed planetary defenses of the core Crab systems. Hurriedly designed and rushed into the production, the eight-million ton Warriors were his answer to that problem. Although only a few dozen were produced and reached the front before the end of the war, the Crabs had no ship heavy enough to fight them. Only their planetary defenses were a threat, and a total of eleven Warriors were destroyed before the fight was over, including HIMS Retaliation, the vessel commanded by Caesar Marcus’s only child and heir to the Throne of Man.

After the Great Crusade came peacetime, and construction on additional Warriors was halted as design engineers corrected the deficiencies and design flaws experienced by the early battleships. New classes of battleships entered service (the Dreadnought, Prinz Eugen, and Kongo), each larger and more massive than the ones before it, were introduced over the following centuries, carrying heavier main batteries and more powerful orbital bombardment tubes (the Warrior featured 32cm guns, the Dreadnought carried a 35cm main battery, the Prinz Eugen 38cm guns, and the Kongo 42cm guns). The Kongos were also the first battleships able to embark fighters, increasing the lethality of these ships dramatically. All of these ships except a handful of Kongos have long since been retired to the reserve fleets or scrapyards—although HIMS Warrior remained as a museum ship in orbit around Earth until the Temporal Translation. Modern Washington and Leviathan class vessels have replaced them on active duty, although with the introduction of the even more powerful Victory class it is likely that the last few Kongos and then the Washingtons will soon begin to enter the reserve Fleets.

All Leviathans are outfitted as flagships, but only division flags and squadron flags are actually assigned a flag officer and his staff. This adds an additional 32 officers and 78 other ranks to the ship’s complement with a corresponding reduction in passenger accommodations. Also, each Imperial Battle Squadron is assigned one century of Marine Force Recon for special operations. The Force Recon century of 6 officers and 146 other ranks also reduces the number of passenger quarters and is typically embarked aboard the squadron flagship.

Designed to stand in the heart of the battle and slug it out with the toughest opponents, Imperial battleships are a force with which to be reckoned. The raw firepower at the fingertips of an officer charged with the command of an Imperial Battle Squadron is enough to overcome virtually any systems defenses and can depopulate entire worlds in a matter of mere hours. These men are carefully chosen—not just for their ability to lead but for their loyalty to House of Collins and the Empire of Humanity. Politics plays a role in the naming of an Admiral and appointing him as master and commander of four of the most powerful ships of war ever designed, of course, but even more important is that the officer in question is fanatically loyal to the Empire. Power does indeed corrupt, and there is very little in the universe more powerful than the armed might of an Imperial Battle Squadron.

In the present day, Admiral Chandler hopes to start construction on a pair of new Leviathans within the next six years—but it will take at least twelve more, possibly fourteen, before the first of these enters the new Imperial Fleet. Budget constraints may postpone the construction of additional battleships, and the challenge of training and fielding enough qualified officers and NCOs for these manpower intensive ships is daunting. However, the Admiral is well aware that there are other predatory races among the stars—and that defeating the threat posed by the Jokar and Rilthani will not be as simple as dealing with the Ordan-Kraal. Additional dreadnoughts are not a luxury in his world view, but a vital necessity to keep his wife’s realm in one piece for generations to come.

Appendix 3: The Imperial Legions

At the time of the temporal displacement, the Empire of Humanity fielded ninety-four Shock Legions and six hundred and twenty-two Infantry Legions to defend the worlds settled by mankind. This was in addition to thousands of independent Brigades and Regimental Combat Teams, or the Imperial Marine Corps (which fielded thirty-two Marine Infantry Legions and eight Marine Assault Legions, with more than four thousand ship-board and ground-based Marine detachments ranging in size form a century to a cohort). Fully forty million men (less than 1% of the troopers were women) wore the uniform of an Imperial Legionnaire or Marine.

The Shock Legions were the heavy stick of the Empire in response to threats from alien species or other human governments. Where Infantry Legions were designed to hold ground and to defend the Empire, it was the Shock Legions who took the fight into the teeth of enemy defenses. These mighty formations could shatter defenders under an avalanche of tanks, armored infantry, and mobile howitzers firing tactical gravitic fusion shells—the infamous 'Hell round'.

Shock Legions consist of a Legion Headquarters—which are expected to see combat—and three Shock Brigades. Each Shock Brigade consists of three Armored Shock Cohorts, plus a Cohort HQ that contains artillery, air defense, combat engineers, military police, electronic warfare/signals intercept, and an armored cavalry scout troop. The Legion HQ also contains these elements, but upgrades the Armored Cavalry Scout Troop to a full Squadron, has an entire artillery Cohort of six batteries (combined mobile howitzers and air defense), a separate air defense artillery century, and a Shock Assault Cohort consisting of eighty-four heavy tanks that serves the Legion as its mailed fist. Many Shock Legions—including the 501st—have also been assigned a Special Operations Century, consisting of highly trained special operators, commandoes for the most part. When these units are assigned to a Legion, they remain under the direct control of the General commanding the Legion as part of the Legion HQ. A separate Services & Support Brigade provides all of the logistical and maintenance support that the combat arms need, and includes four smaller units that can be directly assigned to Shock Brigades and Legion HQ in the field. Finally, each legion includes a ground air wing of 48 Typhoon dedicated ground attack bombers (consisting of four squadrons of a dozen fighters each). These powerful formations include no less than 628 tanks and 312 Armored Personnel Carriers, supported by 72 Mobile Howitzers.

If a Shock Legion has a flaw, it is that it lacks substantial integral infantry support, having just 3,136 infantry-type troopers in total (including engineers, MPs, recon teams, and special operators). This is a tendency that is shared by even the Infantry Legions, which have only 5,248 infantry personnel. Under normal conditions, a Shock Legion (or Infantry Legion) is assigned an independent regiment of Armored Infantry for support—these units alone contain nearly 2,500 infantry troopers, although they lack tanks, artillery, or support elements. When conditions do not permit an Armored Infantry Regiment to be spliced onto a Shock Legion, the Legion often calls upon the Marines stationed aboard supporting warships for assistance. A typical Fleet Marine Force assigned to a Battle Squadron contains 3,992 Marines of all ranks. However, while it is very strong in Infantry troopers, the FMF has no artillery, no military police, no air defense, and completely lacks any tanks or APCs!

Caesar’s Black Panzers is an infamous unit with a history extending back to the Ordan-Kraal Wars. Originally formed from an amalgamation of NATO troops from the shattered remains of the American 5th Mechanized Infantry Division, the German 10th Panzer Division, and the British 1st Armored Division following the first Ordan-Kraal attack on Earth, the Black Panzers became one of the most effective and feared ground units during that bitter three year campaign. Reorganized into the Provisional 501st Armored Division under the command of the forty-year old American general and Medal of Honor winner Marcus Collins, the men of this formation spearheaded efforts to dislodge the crab entrenchments in Central Europe.

Successful in that regard, they watched in horror as the American and European governments—indeed, almost every government in the world—made the fateful decision that rearming would have to wait until the recovery efforts were completed. The outer colonies—settled three decades earlier and home to an exploding population—were written off as indefensible; indeed, most of those systems had already been conquered by the invaders. However, luckily for humanity, some far-thinking individuals managed to persuade three governments to complete construction on handful of space cruisers laid down before the Ordan-Kraals initial attack. Four years later, the Second Culling arrived and proved to one and all that the decision to not build up the military had been an atrociously bad one. But for the gallantry of a handful of USAF, RAF, and Russian Space Force personnel that manned the only five armed space cruisers the human race had in commission, humanity would have been conquered. The American ships Independence and Saratoga, the British Duke of York and Prince of Wales, and the Russian Zhukov intercepted the Ordan-Kraal invasion force four days out of Earth orbit and in a battle that claimed all five of the ships with all hands, humanities first navy managed to destroy thirty-two of the forty transports and six of their ten escorting warships. The forty thousand surviving Ordan-Kraal who landed almost succeeded in their bid to conquer Earth, but the 501st was there leading the defense of Europe. Over the course of eighteen months, General Collins and his Black Panzers (so-named because the fires of countless battles had blackened the hulls of their tanks and APCs), led American, Belgium, Dutch, French, Germany, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Swedish, Spanish, and Swiss forces to victory after victory—although the cost was unbearably high in many instances.

After the last Ordan-Kraal on Earth was killed, and NASA, ESA, and other space agencies across the globe confirmed that their cruisers were departing the system, Marcus Collins addressed his surviving troops, including the few remaining members of the 501st. He swore an oath then and there that never again would the Crabs set foot on the soil of Terra, that all of humanity should unite—must unite—to combat the threat posed by these aliens. It was their governments, he said during the address which was televised live across the globe, which had committed the unforgiveable sin of failing to prepare for what had happened over the past year and half of conflict. And, he continued, that such weak and ineffectual bodies of power should not—must not—be allowed to continue to interfere with the very survival of the human race.

Historians debate whether or not it was orchestrated, but at that point during the address, the soldiers of the 501st began hailing Marcus Collins as Caesar—a cry that the other disgruntled European and American troops took up. In North America and the Middle East, scores of other divisions (some barely larger than a battalion after the months of harsh and bitter fighting) pledged themselves to Collins, and the coups began. Hundreds of millions of frightened and starving civilians swore oath to this blazingly charismatic man as well, as long as their families had food and they were kept safe from the aliens. Governments across the globe were toppled, and in their place Marcus Collins organized the Empire of Humanity. A brilliant man in his mid forties during this time, Collins (Caesar Marcus I, rather) wrote and put into practice the Imperial Charter which governs the Empire to this day. He abolished all prior laws and instituted his Civil, Commercial, Maritime, and Military Codes that imposed draconian punishments on those who put the public safety at risk. Over the course of eleven long and grueling years, Caesar Marcus put down insurrections and rebellions and the surviving governments that defied his new rules until finally the entire planet was united under one man, one Imperial government. Not since Napoleon Bonaparte of France had the world seen a leader accomplish so much in such a short span of time—and never before in human history had one leader stood as the unquestioned ruler of all mankind.

Having united the planet, Caesar Marcus turned his attention to defending it. Even as soon as the fourth year of his campaign to force all of humanity into his Empire, the rebuilt industrial complexes of Europe, North America, and Japan were steadily producing arms, combat vehicles, munitions, and aircraft, as well as pre-fabricated components for what would become the Boxer class cruisers. He rebuilt all of the world’s space launch facilities, and once complete began lifting the pre-fabricated parts into orbit with dozens of lift-offs each and every day. A station was constructed to house the orbital shipyards and four thousand workers labored around the clock to assemble the parts into nineteen cruisers, sixteen of which were completed by the time the Third Culling arrived. It would be just six short years of global peace before they returned.

After seventeen years with no sign of the aliens, their largest attack force yet arrived in system—with sixty-six ships of war and nearly two hundred troop carriers. But the Boxers were not the only vessels prepared to meet them. Caesar Marcus had built, and then recruited crews for, nearly two thousand armed shuttles—each of which carried a one-megaton nuclear warhead and had pilots and crews who had sworn an oath to kamikaze the Ordan-Kraal Fleet in order to stop them short of Earth. The Third Culling ended in a decisive human victory, with all of the alien vessels destroyed before they ever reached high orbit. Not one Crab set foot on the surface of the planet. But it was a pyrrhic victory, for two years later a specially built Ordan-Kraal stealth cruiser evaded all of Earth’s defenses and bombarded the planet with biological weapons intended to sterilize the human race. Luckily, the Crabs had not perfected their weapon, and although several billion men, women, and children died from the attack, and the fertility of the survivors was impaired, humanity survived. But the staggering implications of this horrid attack would haunt humanity for centuries to come.

Thus began the twenty-year long crusade led by Caesar Marcus to reclaim mankind’s five former extra-solar colony worlds, and then utterly annihilate the Ordan-Kraal. A crusade that would be led by the reborn 501st Shock Legion, now named Caesar’s Black Panzers. Over a hundred million humans were living under Ordan-Kraal rule as slaves on the former colonies, and Caesar Marcus refused to consider bombing those planets from orbit. To quote the Emperor himself, "These worlds are human. They are ours by right of colonization and we will reclaim them and our brothers and sisters who live in shackled slavery under alien oppression. We are human beings and we will not burn down the village in order save it." Modern historians also contend that Caesar Marcus needed the diversity of the unaltered DNA of those colonists to ensure that humanity would be able to propagate itself. We may never know for certain his true intentions.

To liberate the surviving humans, the Ordan-Kraal would have to be defeated on the ground, and scores of newly formed Shock Legions would undertake this herculean task. Led by the 501st, the Imperial Legions assaulted each colony in turn, first Alpha Centauri, followed by Epsilon Eridani, 61 Cygnii, Epsilon Indi, and finally Tau Ceti, fighting desperately to protect the enslaved humans even as they put the Ordan-Kraal to the torch. The fighting was vicious, and several times the 501st were reduced in strength to a single consolidated battalion, but after each victory volunteers brought the formation back from full strength. It was in these battles that the 501st would forge their legend, always managing to accomplish their missions, even in the face of dreadful casualties. The extermination of the Ordan-Kraal that followed the liberation of the colonies was mostly conducted via bombardment by the Fleet’s capital ships. However, several lightly populated Ordan-Kraal worlds that Caesar deemed ripe for human settlement were discovered, and so the 501st was called upon once more to lead assaults into the defenses of worlds settled and inhabited by the Crabs and their other servitor races.

On the day that the last remaining Ordan-Kraal stronghold was finally annihilated, Caesar Marcus—eighty-five years of age—anointed his twenty-seven year old grand-son Julian as his successor. For forty-one years, one man had led humanities struggles against the Crabs, a struggle which he saw through to the bitter end as he mourned for his only son killed just days earlier aboard the battleship HIMS Retaliation. Two days later, Caesar Marcus died in his sleep, even as the Imperial Fleet prepared to return in triumph to Earth. His casket was borne through the streets of Imperial City (which Caesar Marcus had constructed on the banks of the river Shannon in central Ireland) by the ranking officers of the Black Panzers, each wearing the black armband of mourning that would become part of their dress uniform to this very day.

Stationed on Terra following the conclusion of the Ordan-Kraal Wars, the 501st became the premier military formation of the Empire of Humanity. Deployed only during times of conflict to where the fighting was hottest, the Black Panzers enforced the will of the Caesars against human rebels and alien races alike. Only veteran troopers were assigned to the 501st, accepting a reduction in rank of two steps in order to serve. Often at odds with the Praetorians (formed after the conclusion of the Ordan-Kraal Wars), the officers and men of the 501st consider themselves as the guardians of the Empire, and the sword of Caesar.

501st Shock Legion (Caesar’s Black Panzers)

Legion Headquarters

GHQ: 4 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers
Staff & Central Communications Century: 14 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers
Air Defense Century: 2 x Lynx-class Light Command Carriers; 12 x Porcupine-class Light Air Defense Vehicles
Combat Engineer Century; 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 12 x Jaguar-class Medium Combat Engineer Vehicles; 72 x Dismount Engineers
Military Police Century: 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 12 x Puma-class Medium APCs; 72 x Dismount MP
Rifle Security Century: 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 12 x Puma-class Medium APCs; 72 x Dismount Infantry
Signals/EW Century: 2 x Lynx-class Light Command Carriers; 12 x Ocelot-class Light EW/Signals Intercept Vehicles
Special Operations Century: 14 x Viper-class Special Operations Vehicles; 112 x Dismount Special Operations Troopers

501st Shock Assault Cohort
HQ: 4 x Leopard-class Heavy Command Tanks
Century I: 2 x Leopard-class Heavy Command Tanks; 12 x Tiger-class Heavy Tanks
Century II: 2 x Leopard-class Heavy Command Tanks; 12 x Tiger-class Heavy Tanks
Century III: 2 x Leopard-class Heavy Command Tanks; 12 x Tiger-class Heavy Tanks
Century IV: 2 x Leopard-class Heavy Command Tanks; 12 x Tiger-class Heavy Tanks
Century V: 2 x Leopard-class Heavy Command Tanks; 12 x Tiger-class Heavy Tanks
Century VI: 2 x Leopard-class Heavy Command Tanks; 12 x Tiger-class Heavy Tanks

501st Armored Cavalry Squadron
HQ: 4 x Lynx-class Light Command Carriers
Troop I: 2 x Lynx-class Light Command Carriers; 12 x Fox-class Light Tanks; 48 x Dismount Recon Infantry
Troop II: 2 x Lynx-class Light Command Carriers; 12 x Fox-class Light Tanks; 48 x Dismount Recon Infantry
Troop III: 2 x Lynx-class Light Command Carriers; 12 x Fox-class Light Tanks; 48 x Dismount Recon Infantry
Troop IV: 2 x Lynx-class Light Command Carriers; 12 x Fox-class Light Tanks; 48 x Dismount Recon Infantry
Troop V: 2 x Lynx-class Light Command Carriers; 12 x Fox-class Light Tanks; 48 x Dismount Recon Infantry
Troop VI: 2 x Lynx-class Light Command Carriers; 12 x Fox-class Light Tanks; 48 x Dismount Recon Infantry

501st Artillery Cohort
HQ: 4 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers
Battery I: 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 8 x Grizzly-class Medium Mobile Howitzers; 4 x Porcupine-class Light Air Defense Vehicles
Battery II: 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 8 x Grizzly-class Medium Mobile Howitzers; 4 x Porcupine-class Light Air Defense Vehicles
Battery III: 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 8 x Grizzly-class Medium Mobile Howitzers; 4 x Porcupine-class Light Air Defense Vehicles
Battery IV: 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 8 x Grizzly-class Medium Mobile Howitzers; 4 x Porcupine-class Light Air Defense Vehicles
Battery V: 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 8 x Grizzly-class Medium Mobile Howitzers; 4 x Porcupine-class Light Air Defense Vehicles
Battery VI: 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 8 x Grizzly-class Medium Mobile Howitzers; 4 x Porcupine-class Light Air Defense Vehicles

Total Vehicles: 366 (86,284 metric tons)
Total Personnel: 2,066 officers and men (including 72 Engineers; 72 Infantry; 72 MPs; 288 Recon Infantry; 112 Special Operations Troopers)

1st Shock Brigade

Brigade Headquarters
HQ: 4 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers
Staff & Central Communications Century: 14 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers
Armored Cavalry Troop: 2 x Lynx-class Light Command Carriers; 12 x Fox-class Light Recon Tanks; 48 x Dismount Recon Infantry
Combat Engineer Century; 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 12 x Jaguar-class Medium Combat Engineer Vehicles; 72 x Dismount Engineer
Military Police Century: 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 12 x Puma-class Medium APCs; 72 x Dismount MP
Mobile Artillery Battery: 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 8 x Grizzly-class Medium Mobile Howitzers; 4 x Porcupine-class Light Air Defense Vehicles
Rifle Security Century: 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 12 x Puma-class Medium APCs; 72 x Dismount Infantry
Signals/EW Century: 2 x Lynx-class Light Command Carriers; 12 x Ocelot-class Light EW/Signals Intercept Vehicles

1st Armored Shock Cohort
HQ: 4 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers
Century I: 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 4 x Puma-class Medium APCs; 8 x Panther-class Medium Tanks; 32 x Dismount Infantry
Century II: 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 4 x Puma-class Medium APCs; 8 x Panther-class Medium Tanks; 32 x Dismount Infantry
Century III: 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 4 x Puma-class Medium APCs; 8 x Panther-class Medium Tanks; 32 x Dismount Infantry
Century IV: 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 4 x Puma-class Medium APCs; 8 x Panther-class Medium Tanks; 32 x Dismount Infantry
Century V: 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 4 x Puma-class Medium APCs; 8 x Panther-class Medium Tanks; 32 x Dismount Infantry
Century VI: 2 x Cougar-class Medium Command Carriers; 4 x Puma-class Medium APCs; 8 x Panther-class Medium Tanks; 32 x Dismount Infantry

2nd Armored Shock Cohort
As 1st Armored Shock Cohort

3rd Armored Shock Cohort
As 1st Armored Shock Cohort

Total Vehicles: 366 (86,226 metric tons)
Total Personnel: 2,298 officers and men (including 72 Engineers; 648 Infantry; 72 MPs; 48 Recon Infantry)


2nd Shock Brigade
As 1st Shock Brigade (4th, 5th, and 6th Armored Shock Cohorts)

Total Vehicles: 366 (86,226 metric tons)
Total Personnel: 2,298 officers and men (including 72 Engineers; 648 Infantry; 72 MPs; 48 Recon Infantry)

3rd Shock Brigade
As 1st Shock Brigade (7th, 8th, and 9th Armored Shock Cohorts)

Total Vehicles: 366 (86,226 metric tons)
Total Personnel: 2,298 officers and men (including 72 Engineers; 648 Infantry; 72 MPs; 48 Recon Infantry)

501st Close Air Support Wing
The Typhoons assigned to a Shock Legion are attached to their transport ships and normally remain embarked there. Thanks to their VTOL capabilities, the fighters can easily take off and land from a grounded transport as from one in deep space. This ability prevents the Legion from having to seize or construct an aerospace complex in order to have on-call fighter support.

Fighters: 48 x Typhoon Ground Attack Fighters
Crew: 96
Support Personnel: 288

Services & Support Brigade
This unit includes all of the maintenance, logistics, construction engineer, medical, food services, personnel, legal, and all of the other scores of vital technical and support apparatus that the combat brigades need in order to function. Rather than list each and every individual unit, the author has chosen to simply give the total figures of personnel and non-combat vehicles assigned to the SSB. However, it must be noted that the SSB consists of four Service & Support Cohorts, which are assigned to support the Combat Brigades and the Legion HQ combat arms, plus a larger Service & Support Regiment which is directly attached to the Legion rear-echelon Headquarters. The smaller SSCs are able to support a combat brigade in the field, providing them with food, water, munitions, spare parts, construction of fortified outposts, and field maintenance on an as-needed basis—each also contains a MASH for the treatment of injured personnel close to the front. The SSR, on the other hand, can not only accomplish these tasks, but also deals with matters of personnel and records, as well as intelligence analysis, weather forecasts (with a complete meteorological staff), strategic logistical challenges, and contains an entire Field Hospital able to provide long-term care to seriously wounded soldiers (with pre-fabricated buildings erected by a Construction Engineer Cohort). The SSR also conducts resupply directly to the independent SSCs, and can draw upon the services of four nano-forges to create parts and components not held in inventory. The SSR contains the Legion Judge Advocate General and his staff and conducts all courts martial and inquiries or investigations as required by Imperial regulations.

Services & Support Regiment
Complement: 4,800 officers and men with approximately 1,000 non-combat vehicles.

Services & Support Cohort (4)
Complement: 2,300 officers and men with approximately 500 non-combat vehicles (each).

Total Vehicles: ~3,000 (~300,000 metric tons)
Total Personnel: 14,000 officers and men


Total Legion Manpower and Vehicles
Combat Vehicles: 1,464 (367,300 metric tons)
Support (Non-combat) Vehicles: ~3,000 (~300,000 metric tons)
Combat Personnel: 8,960 officers and men (including 288 Engineers; 2,016 Infantry; 288 MPs; 432 Recon Infantry; 112 Special Operations Troopers; for a total of 3,136 infantry-type troops of all varieties)

Support Personnel: 14,000 officers and men

Totals: 22,960 officers and men, plus ~4,464 vehicles of all type

Transportation Requirements: 4 transports that are each able to haul 160,000 metric tons of cargo for vehicles and supplies, plus passenger space for at least 5,800 officers and men. This is enough room to lift the combat elements of the Legion, its support brigade, all combat and support vehicles, 95,000 metric tons of supplies, and four nano-forges (each of which weighs close to 10,000 metric tons). Currently, the Imperial Fleet and Legions favor the Dresden-class Assault Troop Transports for this purpose.

Appendix 4: Imperial Legion Combat Vehicles

The Imperial Legions employ a wide variety of combat vehicles, each with a specific role to play in field operations. The more common models are listed below (all are in use by the 501st Shock Legion).

Notes on the entries below:

1. Tanks, APCs, and other ground combat vehicles generally carry their heaviest armor on the front glacis and the turret, as they are expected to be offensive weapons. The top, bottom, sides, and rear normally have only 25-50% of the armor of the carried on the front and turret, with the exception of heavy tanks which might carry as much as 80% of their frontal armor on their other faces. Imperial ground vehicle armor is the same substance as capital warship armor with all of the properties listed under those vessels.

2. Ground vehicle shields project a ‘bubble’ around the vehicle mounting them, similar to the shields mounted on capital warships, but much weaker in overall strength. Unlike capital shields, the generators mounted on vehicles are not strong enough to vaporize small objects—mass driver rounds tend to pass through the shield without disruption. However, they still absorb energy, particular from plasma bolt detonations and interfere with electronic circuitry—which means that missile strikes against shielded targets remain a hit-or-miss proposition. These light shields can be overloaded by tactical nuclear and/or plasma detonations in the 20-kiloton range (provided that the nuclear strike is at a distance; a direct hit will annihilate all but the heaviest of ground combat vehicles). As a side note, the low strength of these shields allows battle armored infantry to swarm aboard a tank or other ground vehicle in order to hand-place satchel demolition charges. Such charges—and their detonators—are carried in shielded compartments within the battle armor, preventing the shields from triggering a premature detonation when the infantry troopers pass through the barrier.

3. Gravitic drives are primary motive systems for all Imperial ground combat vehicles—only the Jaguar class CEV has a secondary propulsion mode. The grav drive is not so much an anti-gravity or contra-gravity drive, but rather a system that changes the plane of gravity from down to forward, so that the combat vehicle ‘falls’ forward. Although the vehicle can be roughly steered by manipulating the angle of the gravity plane and the power fed to the drive, it is more common for control surfaces (rudders, flaps, ailerons, canards, etc) to be built into the hull and used to maneuver the vehicle through an atmosphere. These facts mean that grav drive vehicles tend to have fairly large turning radii—especially at high velocities. The mass of the vehicle tends to limit the maximum altitude and speed a grav drive can attain, with lighter vehicles able to travel faster and higher than heavier ones.

4. Ground effect mode (altitudes of 20-meters or less), also known as ‘tactical mode’ is the most common area where grav vehicles operate, although their speeds are quite limited at this low altitude. They are equipped with terrain-following radars and automated computer control systems that follow the contours of the ground precisely—provided the slope is not too steep. In high-altitude mode (500-meters+, a.k.a. ‘strategic mode’), grav vehicles function much like very heavily armed and armored aircraft with hover capabilities. It is here that the true strategic speed advantage of grav vehicles is revealed, although vehicles at these altitudes are more vulnerable to fire from the surface striking their weaker bottom armor. Between 20- and 500-meters is a transition zone, sometimes referred to as tree-top level flight or ‘grand tactical mode’. There are still occasional obstacles at this level, but grav vehicles can attain twice the speed as in ground effect mode; their terrain-following radars and computer controls remain vital pieces of instrumentation at this altitude.

5. Grav drives are completely silent when operating, making even the largest and heaviest of tanks quite stealthy compared to the ground combat vehicles of present-day Earth. They do create a discernible (and sometimes disconcerting) tactile sensation—akin to light wind pressure, but constant—in a radius of approximately 50-meters. Having a grav vehicle fly directly overhead at heights of 10-meters or less causes a more severe sensation of pressure—there have even been confirmed reports of severe contusions from the gravity pressure wave.

6. All Imperial ground combat vehicles have a computer and communications system that allows them to serve as forward observers for artillery or airstrikes. They also carry a targeting laser to designate specific targets for indirect fire or tactical air.

7. Imperial ground combat vehicles are equipped with medium-range sensor arrays (out to about 50 kilometers, although heavy and medium tanks both have more advanced systems that can track and target vessels—not fighters or shuttles—in orbit), both EM and tachyon-based encrypted, frequency-agile communications systems, and three (or more) different fire control systems for redundancy. Although they also suffer the penalties that modern carbon composite armor imposes on sensors, it is not quite as severe as those of capital ships, mainly due to the thinner plating. Even the largest and most powerful heavy tank seldom carries more than two-to-three meters of armor plating; lighter units carry considerably less.

8. Among the sensor systems is a mine-detection array that will detect ground mines (surface and buried) at ranges of up to 400-meters. Mines buried as deep as three meters can be detected. Of course, unless the tank is travelling at relatively low speeds, it may still enter the minefield, (see number 9 below). Note: grav vehicles operating a tree-top or high-altitude are not affected by ground mines, and they can only detect them if they are at altitudes of 300 meters or less.

9. Although not listed on the tables below, all Imperial ground combat vehicles carry a Mine Elimination System. Mounted on the forward hull, this device fires a 150mm projectile 300-meters forward; that projectile then deploys forty-two submunitions that that creates a fuel-air mixture over the target; this is then detonated. There are no fragments, only an overpressure wave that simulates the weight of a vehicle and detonates the mines (or at least attempts to detonate the mines, the system is effective roughly 90% of the time). Light vehicles carry three charges, medium vehicles have six, and heavy vehicles carry a dozen—CEVs carry three times the number of MES charges and also have a much more effective resonance generator. Vehicle commanders normally tie the MES into their mine detectors and set the system for automatic firing upon the detection of a minefield (unless the vehicle is travelling extremely fast (140+ kph), it can normally detect the mines, fire the MES, and detonate the FAE mist before it enters the minefield—as long as the system is set on auto).

10. Another system carried by all Imperial tanks is what is technically known as ‘anti-infantry charges’, or what the infantry euphemistically call ‘muthering big claymores’. Scores of indentions in the hull and turret contain explosive charges, covered with pre-fragmented ceramic casings several centimeters thick. Upon being triggered, these charges detonate, showering lethal fragments within a 100-meter radius of the vehicle. Infantry within 10-meters suffer concussion damage from the explosions as well as being subjected to hits from hundreds of fragments. At close ranges (25-meters or less), these fragments can penetrate Legion body armor. Most vehicles carry enough AICs for two detonations; heavy tanks have enough for four.

Viper class Grav Light Special Operations Vehicle

Crew: 3 (commander; gunner; driver) plus 8 Special Operations Infantry
Engine: Laser-ignited fusion reactor (exact specifications classified)

Performance:
Ground-level (20 meters or less): 240 kilometers per hour+
High Altitude (500 meters+): 900 kilometers per hour+
Maximum Altitude: 10,000 meters+
Operating Duration: 192 standard hours

Armament: 1 x L7-series three-barrel 25mm Mass Driver (1,800 rounds); 1 x Ripper 60mm Auto-Grenade Launcher (co-axial; 240 rounds); 1 x 7mm Reaper Pulse Cannon (pintle-mount, 1,200 rounds)

Defensive Systems: classified
Armor: Hawkins-Conner Composite Alloy VIII/e (thickness classified)

Dimensions:
Overall Length (main gun forward): 9.2 meters
Hull Length: 9.2 meters
Width: 4.6 meters
Height (overall): 2.8 meters
Height (turret roof): 2.3 meters

Weight: 88 metric tons (full load)

Notes: The Viper is one of the most advanced combat vehicles ever designed and fielded by any of the known powers in space. But it earned that claim not because of its weaponry, shielding, or armor (all of which are quite sub-par compared to the majority of Imperial combat vehicles). Where the Viper excels is in its highly classified stealth systems, which can defeat virtually all sensor systems currently in use. Undetectable by radar or other sensor systems, the Viper is also extremely fast, with a higher acceleration than any other grav vehicle currently in production, and very maneuverable. Technological limitations prevent the Viper from carrying heavy weaponry or shields, but it is does an admirable job of delivering special operations forces onto the battlefield and retrieving them at a later rendezvous. However, with its specialized stealth systems, it is also one of the most expensive vehicles ever produced on a ton-for-ton basis.

Porcupine class Grav Light Air Defense Vehicle

Crew: 3 (commander; gunner; driver)
Engine: Laser-ignited fusion reactor (exact specifications classified)

Performance:
Ground-level (20 meters or less): 192 kilometers per hour+
High Altitude (500 meters+): 720 kilometers per hour+
Maximum Altitude: 8,000 meters+
Operating Duration: 192 standard hours

Armament: 4 x Mk XI 35mm plasma guns (1,200 rounds); 1 x 7mm Reaper Pulse Cannon (pintle-mount, 1,200 rounds); 8 x Vertical Launch Cells for Mantis surface-to-air missiles (rear deck; 8 missiles)

Defensive Systems: classified
Armor: Hawkins-Conner Composite Alloy VIII/e (thickness classified)

Dimensions:
Overall Length (main gun forward): 10.3 meters
Hull Length: 10.3 meters
Width: 4.7 meters
Height (overall): 2.9 meters
Height (turret roof): 2.4 meters

Weight: 125 metric tons (full load)

Notes: The lightly armored Porcupine is designed for one role, which is providing air defense coverage to Legion ground forces. And that is a role that this vehicle performs well. Primary armament consists of quad 35mm plasma cannons in the turret with an effective range of more than 75 kilometers and a rate of fire of thirty rounds per minute per gun, these weapons can smother any aircraft or high flying vehicle with a lethal volley of plasma bolts. Long-range tracking and targeting systems are also built into the vehicle in order to allow the Porcupine to identify hostile targets and lock them up for destruction. In addition to the plasma guns, the vehicle carries eight Vertical Launch Cells in the rear deck for Mantis SAMs—these missiles are the Legions version of the Scorpion air-to-air missile carried by fighter interceptors and strike fighters and have a maximum engagement range of 250 kilometers. Armor and shields are very light for a modern ground vehicle, however, and the only dedicated anti-personnel system is a single pintle-mount Reaper pulse cannon on the commander’s hatch—although the quad 25s do make an extremely effective anti-personnel and anti-vehicle weapon for as long as the ammunition lasts. Extreme care must be taken by the crew of the Porcupine in using these weapons in close combat, as each bolt has an extensive blast radius.

Fox class Grav Light Recon Tank

Crew: 3 (commander; gunner; driver); 4 Recon Infantry
Engine: Laser-ignited fusion reactor (exact specifications classified)

Performance:
Ground-level (20 meters or less): 192 kilometers per hour+
High Altitude (500 meters+): 720 kilometers per hour+
Maximum Altitude: 8,000 meters+
Operating Duration: 192 standard hours

Armament: 1 x L17-series 75mm Mass Driver (240 rounds); 1 x Ripper 60mm Auto-Grenade Launcher (co-axial; 240 rounds); 1 x 7mm Reaper Pulse Cannon (pintle-mount, 1,200 rounds); 4 x Striker anti-vehicle missiles; 1 x Hauberk Point Defense Anti-Missile System

Defensive Systems: classified
Armor: Hawkins-Conner Composite Alloy VIII/e (thickness classified)

Dimensions:
Overall Length (main gun forward): 12.2 meters
Hull Length: 12.2 meters
Width: 5.3 meters
Height (overall): 3.0 meters
Height (turret roof): 2.6 meters

Weight: 156 metric tons (full load)

Notes: The Legion’s standard light cavalry tank is the Fox. Optimized for the reconnaissance role, the Fox blends speed, firepower, and protection into what many 20th century observers would classify as the perfect tank. Each of these vehicles carries an array of sensor systems able to locate hostile ground forces out to a range of 50 kilometers, as well as a powerful sensor jammer that blocks hostile detection systems. A compartment in the rear contains four Recon Infantry—two two-man Scout/Sniper teams that have also been cross-trained for service as forward artillery observers. Armor protection and shield strength are very good for a light vehicle, and a substantial amount of armament is carried. The primary weapon is a 75mm Mass Driver Cannon in the turret—this long-barreled gun has a maximum range of 6 kilometers and is capable of firing up to thirty rounds per minute. Tests conducted at the NTC at Fort Irwin following the arrival of the 501st showed that the 75 is capable of penetrating the front glacis of an M1 at 1,000 meters—and exiting the rear armor after traveling through the turret well and the gas-turbine engine. In comparison, it takes three or four hits from the same weapon to penetrate the front armor of a Fox (or one shot from the rear, sides, or bottom). Co-axial to the 75 is a Ripper 60mm Auto-Grenade Launcher, while a Reaper Pulse Cannon is carried on a pintle mount at the commander’s hatch. A two-tube box launcher is fixed to each side of the turret, with each armored box containing a pair of Striker ground assault missiles. These weapons have a maximum range of ten kilometers and are capable of targeting vehicles and structures with their 350-kilogram explosive warhead. Finally, a remote turret on the upper turret surface contains a light laser cannon that draws its power directly from the fusion engine and is configured for point-defense. This system—named the Hauberk—automatically targets incoming ordnance directed within 20-meters of the point-defense system (anything from mortar shells to artillery shells to anti-vehicle missiles) and attempts to strike it with a high-intensity laser beam. Ineffective against vehicle armor or shields, the Hauberk is just powerful enough to stop ballistic and missile ordnance by heating the target until it detonates. However, the system can only engage four or five targets over the span of a single minute—and large salvoes can overwhelm the targeting system causing the weapon to hesitate for 5-10 seconds before selecting its initial target, further reducing targeting and tracking time on the remaining incoming shells or missiles. It is also prone to overheating after sustained use for five minutes or longer.

Lynx class Grav Light Recon Command Tank

Crew: 3 (commander; gunner; driver); 4 staff officers & NCOs
Engine: Laser-ignited fusion reactor (exact specifications classified)

Performance:
Ground-level (20 meters or less): 192 kilometers per hour+
High Altitude (500 meters+): 720 kilometers per hour+
Maximum Altitude: 8,000 meters+
Operating Duration: 192 standard hours

Armament: 1 x L17-series 75mm Mass Driver (240 rounds); 1 x Ripper 60mm Auto-Grenade Launcher (co-axial; 240 rounds); 1 x 7mm Reaper Pulse Cannon (pintle-mount, 1,200 rounds); 4 x Striker anti-vehicle missiles; 1 x Hauberk Point Defense Anti-Missile System

Defensive Systems: classified
Armor: Hawkins-Conner Composite Alloy VIII/e (thickness classified)

Dimensions:
Overall Length (main gun forward): 12.2 meters
Hull Length: 12.2 meters
Width: 5.3 meters
Height (overall): 3.0 meters
Height (turret roof): 2.6 meters

Weight: 161 metric tons (full load)

Notes: The Lynx is a slightly heavier command variant of the Fox, substituting a four-man command & communications compartment for the Recon Infantry Bay. The additional C3 equipment makes the interior substantially more cramped, but the Lynx retains the speed, shielding, armor, and weaponry of the Fox—a small price to pay for the lack of leg room.

Ocelot class Grav Light Electronic Warfare Vehicle

Crew: 3 (commander; gunner; driver); 4 EW/Signals Intercept specialists
Engine: Laser-ignited fusion reactor (exact specifications classified)

Performance:
Ground-level (20 meters or less): 192 kilometers per hour+
High Altitude (500 meters+): 720 kilometers per hour+
Maximum Altitude: 8,000 meters+
Operating Duration: 192 standard hours

Armament: 1 x L17-series 75mm Mass Driver (240 rounds); 1 x Ripper 60mm Auto-Grenade Launcher (co-axial; 240 rounds); 1 x 7mm Reaper Pulse Cannon (pintle-mount, 1,200 rounds); 2 x Striker anti-vehicle missiles; 1 x Hauberk Point Defense Anti-Missile System

Defensive Systems: classified
Armor: Hawkins-Conner Composite Alloy VIII/e (thickness classified)

Dimensions:
Overall Length (main gun forward): 12.2 meters
Hull Length: 12.2 meters
Width: 5.3 meters
Height (overall): 3.0 meters
Height (turret roof): 2.6 meters

Weight: 161 metric tons (full load)

Notes: Another variant of the basis Fox chassis, the Ocelot masses as much as the Lynx, and sacrifices one two-tube armored box launcher for Striker missiles in order to carry a four man electronic/warfare and signals intercept team in the rear compartment, along with their gear. In addition to a sensory jamming capability with four times the radius of the Fox and the Lynx, the Ocelot can project false emissions within a two kilometer radius, and it’s extremely sensitive sensor receptors can intercept all electro-magic spectrum based communications as well as tachyon-based systems. Advanced cryptography computers aid the analysts in attempting to break encryptions and codes, and the Ocelot also carries one of the most power computer systems ever installed aboard a vehicle—with EM and tachyon wireless networking abilities. The ‘techno-geeks’ of an Ocelot crew have even been known—on rare occasions—to hack enemy information systems in the middle of battle, planting false data and erasing real information about the Legion’s strength and position. Plus, the techno-geeks have about twice the space that the command team aboard a Lynx has, although to the vehicles determent, its shields are lighter and its armor is approximately one-half as thick as that of a Fox.

Puma class Grav Medium Armored Personnel Carrier

Crew: 3 (commander; gunner; driver); 8 Armored Infantry
Engine: Laser-ignited fusion reactor (exact specifications classified)

Performance:
Ground-level (20 meters or less): 144 kilometers per hour+
High Altitude (500 meters+): 540 kilometers per hour+
Maximum Altitude: 6,000 meters+
Operating Duration: 192 standard hours

Armament: 1 x L23-series 100mm Mass Driver (150 rounds); 1 x Ripper 60mm Auto-Grenade Launcher (co-axial; 240 rounds); 1 x 7mm Reaper Pulse Cannon (pintle-mount, 1,200 rounds); 4 x Striker anti-vehicle missiles; 1 x Hauberk Point Defense Anti-Missile System

Defensive Systems: classified
Armor: Hawkins-Conner Composite Alloy VIII/e (thickness classified)

Dimensions:
Overall Length (main gun forward): 17.4 meters
Hull Length: 14.4 meters
Width: 5.4 meters
Height (overall): 3.0 meters
Height (turret roof): 2.6 meters

Weight: 219 metric tons (full load)

Notes: The 219-metric ton Puma is the standard Legion armored personnel carrier. This troop carrier is highly mobile, relatively fast (in Imperial terms—by Earth standards all of the Legions vehicles are as fast as, or faster than, most helicopters!), and both shield strength and armor protection are rated as moderately heavy. Each Puma has a troop bay in the rear that normally carries 8 Armored Infantry troopers, although as many as a dozen can be crammed aboard in an emergency, plus there are overhead and under-seat storage compartments for additional grav-fusion power cells, munitions, and mission critical equipment. The APC carries an amazing array of weaponry as well: the co-axial Ripper, pintle Reaper, and Hauberk AMS are the same as those found aboard the Fox and the Lynx. The Puma carries a 100mm Mass Driver Cannon as its main gun, however. Slower firing than the 75 of the Fox, the 100mm has a maximum effective range of eight kilometers and delivers a much harder punch. Four Strikers are carried as well a quad-cell armored box launchers attached to the right side of the turret.

Cougar class Grav Medium Command Carrier

Crew: 3 (commander; gunner; driver); 4 staff officers & NCOs
Engine: Laser-ignited fusion reactor (exact specifications classified)

Performance:
Ground-level (20 meters or less): 144 kilometers per hour+
High Altitude (500 meters+): 540 kilometers per hour+
Maximum Altitude: 6,000 meters+
Operating Duration: 192 standard hours

Armament: 1 x L23-series 100mm Mass Driver (150 rounds); 1 x Ripper 60mm Auto-Grenade Launcher (co-axial; 240 rounds); 1 x 7mm Reaper Pulse Cannon (pintle-mount, 1,200 rounds); 4 x Striker anti-vehicle missiles; 1 x Hauberk Point Defense Anti-Missile System

Defensive Systems: classified
Armor: Hawkins-Conner Composite Alloy VIII/e (thickness classified)

Dimensions:
Overall Length (main gun forward): 17.4 meters
Hull Length: 14.4 meters
Width: 5.4 meters
Height (overall): 3.0 meters
Height (turret roof): 2.6 meters

Weight: 219 metric tons (full load)

Notes: The Cougar is a command variant of the Puma, replacing the infantry compartment with a command & communications compartment manned by a total of four command personnel. Unlike the Lynx, there is enough room to move about, pace, and even two fold-down bunks to allow the command staff a chance to grab some sleep. And an automatic coffee maker with several pounds of coffee stored beside it!

Grizzly class Grav Medium Mobile Howitzer

Crew: 3 (commander; gunner; driver)
Engine: Laser-ignited fusion reactor (exact specifications classified)

Performance:
Ground-level (20 meters or less): 144 kilometers per hour+
High Altitude (500 meters+): 540 kilometers per hour+
Maximum Altitude: 6,000 meters+
Operating Duration: 192 standard hours

Armament: 1 x H77-series 200mm Gravitic Howitzer (72 rounds); 1 x 7mm Reaper Pulse Cannon (pintle-mount, 1,200 rounds); 1 x Hauberk Point Defense Anti-Missile System

Defensive Systems: classified
Armor: Hawkins-Conner Composite Alloy VIII/e (thickness classified)

Dimensions:
Overall Length (main gun forward): 19.6 meters
Hull Length: 15.8 meters
Width: 6.2 meters
Height (overall): 3.5 meters
Height (turret roof): 3.1 meters

Weight: 258 metric tons (full load)

Notes: The Grizzly is another specialized vehicle, but this one deals in delivering long-distance death and destruction. A mobile howitzer, the Grizzly is only lightly armored and shielded, and carries just one pintle-mount Reaper and an automated Hauberk for self-defense. It does contain an auto-loading 200mm Gravitic Howitzer as its main gun, however, along with an armored magazine containing seventy-two artillery shells. Maximum indirect fire range is 93 kilometers, although for accurate fire most artillery commanders only engage targets within 70 kilometers. A variety of shells are carried aboard: dual-purpose HE (high explosive), deep-penetration APE (armor-piercing explosive; a bunker-buster round), Copperhead (an anti-armor AP shell that requires a forward observer to paint the target with a laser designator), Firecracker (a cluster shell containing sixty-four anti-personnel sub-munitions with blast radius of nearly 300 meters), Fragmentation, Incendiary (a shell containing an advanced chemical gel that burns as hot as white phosphorus and adheres to flesh, bone, and other surfaces like napalm; like white phosphorus, incendiary gel cannot be extinguished by water; however, the gel burns out less than three minutes after ignition, although any fires ignited by the blaze remain as long as there is fuel and oxygen), Smoke, Illumination, and the much-feared Hell round (a tactical gravitic fusion warhead with a yield of approximately 20 kilotons). The Grizzly can fire on the move (at speeds of 90 kph and slower) with a rate of fire of one round every fifteen seconds; if stationary and hovering in ground-effect mode (within 5 meters of the surface), the Grizzly can attain a maximum fire rate of one round every two and a half seconds—however, this rate can only be maintained for the first six rounds, as the ready magazine is then exhausted and must be resupplied with shells from the main magazine—which takes 90 seconds. Normally, artillery commanders will only use the rapid-fire ability of the howitzer to deliver requested TOT (time-on-target) salvoes, with minute computer controlled changes in launch power and ballistic trajectory allowing all six shells to impact on target virtually simultaneously. The gunner can also engage in direct fire mode at ranges of 6 kilometers or less. Range can be extended by added a booster rocket stage; this requires that the gunner load a shell, select booster mode, and then load a booster stage. The howitzer then magnetically binds the two stages and can then be fired. Booster stages extend maximum range by 40 kilometers. A dozen boosters are carried in addition the normal seventy-two round loadout. Booster rocket stages are the same size as normal artillery shells, and sometimes a battery commander will replace them with additional shells. Under combat conditions, up to seven addition rounds can be loaded aboard, including one chambered round, a full magazine load, and six rounds in the ready loader. This is only rarely done; as it is impossible to exchange the ready or loaded shells for a different type of artillery round until after the first seven have been fired. Normal munitions loadout consists of 12 HE; 12 APE; 6 Copperhead; 12 Firecracker; 6 Fragmentation; 6 Incendiary; 8 Smoke; 2 Illumination; and 6 Hell-rounds, plus 12 booster stages. If additional rounds are carried, they are normally dual-purpose HE—although if the Legion is expected to carry an assault into fortified modern defenses, six booster-stages are replaced with an additional 6 Hell-rounds.

Panther class Grav Medium Tank

Crew: 3 (commander; gunner; driver)
Engine: Laser-ignited fusion reactor (exact specifications classified)

Performance:
Ground-level (20 meters or less): 144 kilometers per hour+
High Altitude (500 meters+): 540 kilometers per hour+
Maximum Altitude: 6,000 meters+
Operating Duration: 192 standard hours

Armament: 1 x L25-series 145mm Mass Driver (122 rounds); 1 x Mk XI 35mm Plasma Gun (co-axial; 300 rounds); 1 x Ripper 60mm Auto-Grenade Launcher (co-axial; 240 rounds); 1 x 7mm Reaper Pulse Cannon (pintle-mount, 1,200 rounds); 8 x Striker anti-vehicle missiles; 1 x Hauberk Point Defense Anti-Missile System

Defensive Systems: classified
Armor: Hawkins-Conner Composite Alloy VIII/e (thickness classified)

Dimensions:
Overall Length (main gun forward): 21.1 meters
Hull Length: 16.7 meters
Width: 8.2 meters
Height (overall): 3.7 meters
Height (turret roof): 3.2 meters

Weight: 270 metric tons (full load)

Notes: The Panther is the main weapon of the Shock Legion. This 270-metric ton vehicle is heavily shielded, heavily armored, yet it moves as fast as a Puma and carries a far greater weapons load. The main gun is a 145mm Mass Driver with a maximum effective range of twelve kilometers and a rate of fire of four rounds per minute. This weapon is capable of penetrating the armor of almost every light- and medium-weight combat vehicle currently in service, and it can do so with a single round. The 145 has a high-power fire mode, which reduces the rate of fire to one round a minute. In high-power mode, range is increased by a factor of ten, allowing the Panther to target space craft in low orbit; the kinetic energy of the 145 in high power mode is high enough that the weapon does pose a minor threat to destroyers and other light craft (but when a century or cohort of Panthers engage an orbital target en masse, that minor threat can quickly change into a major one). Even in high power mode, a single 145 round is unlikely to penetrate the armor of a heavy tank, except on the sides, bottom, or rear, and then only at short ranges (2,000 meters or less). There are two co-axial weapons, a Ripper and a Mk XI 35mm Plasma Gun—identical to that mounted on the Porcupine air defense vehicle. Unlike that lighter vehicle, the Panther uses its plasma gun as an anti-vehicle and anti-personnel weapon, rather than air defense (although it technically could be used in that role as well, however the turret cannot pivot to follow air vehicles as quickly, making it more difficult to use in that role). There is a pintle-mount Reaper and a Hauberk AMS as well, plus a total of eight Striker missiles (in two quad armored box launchers on the turret sides).

Jaguar class Grav Medium Combat Engineer Vehicle

Crew: 3 (commander; gunner; driver); 8 Combat Engineers
Engine: Laser-ignited fusion reactor (exact specifications classified)

Performance:
Ground-level (20 meters or less): 144 kilometers per hour+
High Altitude (500 meters+): 540 kilometers per hour+
Maximum Altitude: 6,000 meters+
Operating Duration: 192 standard hours

Armament: 1 x L84-series 250mm Mass Driver Demolition Gun (44 rounds); 1 x Ripper 60mm Auto-Grenade Launcher (co-axial; 240 rounds); 1 x 7mm Reaper Pulse Cannon (pintle-mount, 1,200 rounds); 4 x Striker anti-vehicle missiles; 1 x Hauberk Point Defense Anti-Missile System

Defensive Systems: classified
Armor: Hawkins-Conner Composite Alloy VIII/e (thickness classified)

Dimensions:
Overall Length (main gun forward): 15.8 meters
Hull Length: 21.8 meters
Width: 8.6 meters
Height (overall): 3.7 meters
Height (turret roof): 2.6 meters

Weight: 294 metric tons (full load)

Special: Equipped with an extendible dozer blade (max speed of 20 km/hr), folding crane/backhoe, and servo mounted 2m cutting saw

Notes: The Jaguar is a massive and ugly vehicle, but it serves a vital purpose in the Imperial Legions. First and foremost, it is a combat engineering vehicle, designed to demolish structures, clear ground, dispose of mines, and conducting other general engineering functions. To assist in this role, each Jaguar carries a rear compartment that normally embarks 8 Battled Armored Engineers—although there is enough space for a dozen to squeeze into in a pinch. It is the only Imperial combat vehicle equipped with both a grav drive and caterpillar tracks. When using its dozer blade, backhoe, cutting saw, or crane, the Jaguar will settle to the ground and use the ground friction of the tracks to aid in its engineering duties. This vehicle carries a dozer blade on the bow, a three-arm crane and backhoe combine, and a heavy duty structural cutting saw with a 2-meter long blade on a remote servo arm that can reach up to 5-meters. It is equipped with a smoke generator, a resonance field generator (detonates all non-friendly explosive ordnance in a 200-meter radius, even those buried as deep as three meters), and a mine detection sensor system twice as sensitive as those on other combat vehicles. Main armament consists of a 250mm Mass Driver Demolition Gun (a low-velocity weapon with a maximum range of 2 kilometers) that can fire HESH (high-explosive, squash-head; the standard demolition round), APE, and Canister (an anti-personnel round containing two thousand 5mm tungsten flechettes). For self-defense, the Jaguar mounts a Ripper in the co-axial mount, a Reaper in the pintle mount, and a Hauberk AMS. Additionally, four Striker missiles are carried, primarily as long-range bunker-busters. The Jaguar has heavy shielding, but its armor is not very uniform. The front glacis and turret are heavily armored, but the remainder of the vehicle carries less armor than a Fox.

Tiger class Grav Tank

Crew: 3 (commander; gunner; driver)
Engine: Laser-ignited fusion reactor (exact specifications classified)

Performance:
Ground-level (20 meters or less): 96 kilometers per hour+
High Altitude (500 meters+): 360 kilometers per hour+
Maximum Altitude: 4,000 meters+
Operating Duration: 192 standard hours

Armament: 1 x L25-series 200mm Mass Driver (84 rounds); 1 x Mk XII 50mm Plasma Gun (co-axial; 240 rounds); 1 x Ripper 60mm Auto-Grenade Launcher (co-axial; 480 rounds); 1 x 7mm Reaper Pulse Cannon (pintle-mount, 2,400 rounds); 16 x Striker anti-vehicle missiles; 8 x Vertical Launch Cells for Mantis Surface-to-Air Missiles (rear deck; 8 missiles); 1 x Hauberk Point Defense Anti-Missile System

Defensive Systems: classified
Armor: Hawkins-Conner Composite Alloy VIII/e (thickness classified)

Dimensions:
Overall Length (main gun forward): 26.5 meters
Hull Length: 24.4 meters
Width: 10.7 meters
Height (overall): 4.0 meters
Height (turret roof): 3.7 meters

Weight: 395 metric tons (full load)

Notes: The heavy Tiger tank is the Empire’s ultimate ground weapon. Only assigned to Shock Legions (and even they have just 72 Tigers and 16 Leopards), there were less than a thousand of these heavy tanks in service across the entire Empire of Humanity in that future reality. It is also the slowest and lowest flying tank in service, unable to achieve even 100 kph in ground level flight. This 395-metric ton behemoth has twice the armor thickness and shield strength of a Panther and can survive a 100-kiloton+ nuclear/plasma detonation at a distance of more than 100 meters from ground zero (although it will suffer serious damage from such a blast). Its armament resembles that of the Panther, but greatly upscaled. The primary weapon is a 200mm Mass Driver with an effective range of fifteen kilometers and a rate of fire of three rounds per minute. Like the Panther, this weapon can operate in high powered mode, for a maximum range of 150 kilometers—far enough to reach standard orbit. The 200mm poses a serious threat even to cruisers, as its kinetic energy and solid construction lets it slice through even capital-scale shields with only minimal deflection. However, it takes two full minutes to recharge between high-power shots, mainly because of the tremendous increase in energy requirements for accelerating the round so much faster than that of the Panther’s 145. The Tiger’s co-axial plasma gun is a 50mm Mk XII, also with an effective range of 150km. This weapon has a rate of fire of fifteen rounds a minute, with a yield approximately equal to 350 kilograms of high explosive and a lethal blast radius of 25-meters. A secondary co-axial mount is a Ripper AGL, while a Reaper serves the pintle gun and a Hauberk provides point defense. Twenty-four missiles are carried by the Tiger, eight Strikers on the turret (two quad armored box launchers), eight Strikers in vertical launch cells in the hull, and eight Mantis SAMs in vertical launch cells in the hull. The Mantis SAMs are carried for defense against air attack—the signature of the Tiger and its tremendous size makes it a prime target for ground attack fighters. Nothing except another heavy tank can hope to survive a surprise assault by a Tiger in full fighting fury, and even those heavy tanks cannot survive for long. Nothing except another heavy tank, a capital warship, a heavy strike bomber loaded for ground assault, the combined fire of a century or more of medium tanks, or a strategic nuclear weapon can hope to stop a Tiger on the move towards its prey.

Leopard class Grav Heavy Command Tank

Crew: 3 (commander; gunner; driver); 4 staff officers & NCOs
Engine: Laser-ignited fusion reactor (exact specifications classified)

Performance:
Ground-level (20 meters or less): 96 kilometers per hour+
High Altitude (500 meters+): 360 kilometers per hour+
Maximum Altitude: 4,000 meters+
Operating Duration: 192 standard hours

Armament: 1 x L25-series 200mm Mass Driver (84 rounds); 1 x Mk XII 5cm Plasma Gun (co-axial; 240 rounds); 1 x Ripper 60mm Auto-Grenade Launcher (co-axial; 480 rounds); 1 x 7mm Reaper Pulse Cannon (pintle-mount, 2,400 rounds); 8 x Striker anti-vehicle missiles; 4 x Vertical Launch Cells for Mantis Surface-to-Air Missiles (rear deck; 4 missiles); 1 x Hauberk Point Defense Anti-Missile System

Defensive Systems: classified
Armor: Hawkins-Conner Composite Alloy VIII/e (thickness classified)

Dimensions:
Overall Length (main gun forward): 26.5 meters
Hull Length: 24.4 meters
Width: 10.7 meters
Height (overall): 4.0 meters
Height (turret roof): 3.7 meters

Weight: 400 metric tons (full load)

Notes: The Leopard is a command variant of the Tiger, removing the hull mounted Striker missiles and half of the Mantis SAMs in order to add a command and control compartment in the rear of the vehicle with a staff of four command personnel. Shields, armor, remaining weapons, speed, and other capabilities remain the same as the Tiger.